thinking about a glock 23

i have recently been looking into getting my first hand gun, (i have shot them before just never owned one), and im really liking the glock 23 40 S&W. i was just curious to see what some of the more experienced people on here thought about this gun. any help would be great!!

I carry one. I used to carry a 1911 but the Glock is more dependable. I had a grip reduction done on mine, it makes a big differance. If you buy it, buy many mags as the next probable president is not gun friendly.

"Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it." -Mark Twain

The .40 Glocks are implicated in more ka-Booms than the other calibers. This is partially because of the unsupported chamber design, but also largely because .40 Glocks are the most popular and widely-used service pistols in America.

Some people don't like the trigger, but I often find that's because they haven't put in the time to master the trigger reset, or simply don't know that they should be "riding the link." The reset itself is the best on the market after the 1911, at least among popular pistols, being firm and short.

I have only tried a new Walther, not broken in. I do prefer the "feel" of the Glock to the Walther, though that is probably mainly because I am habituated to it. But I did qualify my statement by saying "among popular pistols" and the P99 isn't really a common pistol. It's also hard to find mags, holsters, and armorers for the Walthers compared to Glocks. I am lazy and like things to be easy and convenient.

Like many things - such as the brigades of soldiers who are supposedly screaming for 1911s and M14s - I suspect the ka-Boom problem is bigger on the Internet than it is in real life. If this were some widespread epidemic, Glock would fix it for liability reasons alone. Anyway, ka-Booms with 9mms are virtually unheard of, though perhaps not totally nonexistent, which is yet another reason to choose 9mm over .40.

Anyway, ka-Booms with 9mms are virtually unheard of, though perhaps not totally nonexistent, which is yet another reason to choose 9mm over .40.

Don't forget that the chamber walls are almost twice as thick on the 9mm so it is stronger too. It is surely possible to kB! a 9 X 19mm… but you gotta try harder.

Originally Posted by Todd Louis Green

At the 2S&W IDPA Winter Championship this past Saturday (28 February2004 ) I personally saw a Glock Model 34 with its barrel split top from bottom all the way through the breech. The kB! occurred in front of many witnesses. The shooter was using factory PMC practice ammo.

I had my Canon D10 with me but felt it would have appeared unprofessional to ask for some photos or try to get contact info for the owner.

Many .40 are basically bored out 9mms. Its a cheap way of supporting another caliber without the expense of a ground up design. Unfortunately, this leaves a lot less material around the chamber and barrel and subsequently a weaker design. This compromised design alone is good reason to avoid .40 cal

It is possible that the Glock 34 shoot in TLG's post had allowed lead to accrue in the barrel. Anyway, I do not think Glock 9mms blow up any more than any other gun. I've also seen nuked 1911s, P35s, Berettas, Five-seveNs, and countless revolvers.

Use quality factory ammo in the 40 caliber Glocks and you should never have an issue. If you want to shoot reloads, or lead, get an aftermarket barrel. Never had a KB in my 40 cal Glocks, but I did have one in the 9mm G17 using factory reloads. Side split on the case, blew out the magazine, and burnt the top of my index finger where the gases came out the side around the mag release cutout. Did it stop me from loving my Glocks? No. How many thousand rounds have I shot through my Glocks? No telling, but alot. Never a problem with new factory ammo.

If Glock's unsupported chambers increase vulnerability to kB!, then a reasonable person would only select weapons with a fully supported chamber.

That depends. Like every other gun, Glocks are compromises. I don't think it's unreasonable to trade the very remote chance of a ka-Boom for the Glock's manifold advantages in ease of shooting, commonality of accessories, ease of finding armorers, and general convenience of owning.

I'm sitting here looking at ATF pistol import data for the last ten years. It shows that over 2.5 million pistols have been imported from Austria since 1998. Does anyone doubt that the vast majority of these were Glocks? .40 is Glock's best selling chambering in the US.

For the sake of argument, then, let's say that only 75% of these Austrian pistols are Glocks (surely an underestimate). That's about 1.9 million Glocks.

Let's further assume that only 25% of these are .40s (again, surely an underestimate). That's almost 500,000 .40 caliber Glocks.

Of this half a million, how many have ka-Boomed? Even if it's 1,000 (950 of which haven't shown up on the Internet), that's only one fifth of one percent of the .40 Glocks in the US. And this is weighting everything as far as can reasonably be weighted against Glock.

George W. Bush was the most popular and widely voted for Presidential candidate of 2004. Popularity doesn't always indicate a good choice.

Agreed, and I've never said Glocks are for everyone. There are many good pistols out there. But none of them offer the convenience of Glock ownership simply because they are not as popular.

I carry a Glock 23 every day and I love it. Its hard telling how many rounds i've put through it at the range and it has never malfunctioned in any way whatsoever. It is accurate and reliable, and the size of the 19/23 is perfect for me. It feels good in my hand, and I can conceal it easily under just a Tshirt, and I'm not a big guy (about 140 lbs).

I don't think it's unreasonable to trade the very remote chance of a ka-Boom for the Glock's manifold advantages in ease of shooting, commonality of accessories, ease of finding armorers, and general convenience of owning.

Pam Anderson is rich and generally considered attractive. There are those who would not think it unreasonable to run the known risk of Hepatitis to posess such a woman for her manifold advantages.

Because of Unwritten Law #1: Every HGF thread about Glocks has to mention unsupported chambers and ka-Booms, no matter how uncommon they are and how many millions of Glocks have never had so much as a simple malfunction, never mind a ka-Boom.

Because of Unwritten Law #1: Every HGF thread about Glocks has to mention unsupported chambers and ka-Booms, no matter how uncommon they are and how many millions of Glocks have never had so much as a simple malfunction, never mind a ka-Boom.

Then cut the rhetoric and just tell us. Unsupported chambers. Good or Bad?